February 2015

If you talk to church leaders in this country, they are in
awe of South Korean churches, one of which has 800,000
members. [Yoido Full Gospel Church, a Pentecostal Church in
Seoul] I was at a leadership conference a few years back, and
the presenter was talking about church growth. Our basic
problem, he said, is this: the average Methodist in South Korea
invites two people to church every week but the average
Methodist in the U.S. invites one person every 38 years. Do the
math. Do you think we could learn something from our Korean
sisters and brothers?

Here in the Gospel of Mark we learn that exorcisms were a hallmark of Jesus' ministry. "And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons." [1:39] The practice sounds perfectly medieval to us, but it is not. In fact, casting out demons is making quite a comeback in Christianity these days.